Civil War Saber Belt

Hello:
I recently purchased an 1862 Cavalry Saber made by the Providence Tool Co. and it had this saber belt attched to it. I was told it was always with this sword. Just wondering if anybody can tell me if this is a period Civil War Saber Belt? Thnak You.

I believe what you have is a custom made buckle, it does not appear to be any type of issue. Only an officer would be allowed to wear ( or afford ) such an item. More than likely it was a presentation or personal gift when going off to war. The belt itself looks correct.

For what it may be worth and while I don't claim to be an "expert" in such affairs, from a collector's point of view, don't touch the buckle but some Neatsfoot applied to the leather might go a long way to retarding any further deterioration ... check with a livery stable or someone involved with horse tack and the like.

If it isn't original, it certainly looks like it could come from that time from looking at a couple of photographs. Your best bet, if you don't want to send it to an expert, is to do research into the machining of snaps, spring loaded hooks (for the saber frog) and things like that from the period, when different fittings changed, styles of hooks, etc. Thats the biggest thing that experts look at on things like this, because when you make a reproduction or a fake, you can artifically age things, but its hard to get little commonly found fittings made like they were earlier. That can help a lot in dating it and help in spotting a reproduction.

Your belt buckle certainly is not regulation issue for north or south during the Civil War. Then again, the south imported lots of weaponry from Europe. Given the fancy nature of the initials, I would suspect it was French or Spanish in its origins and was custom made for its original wearer. Just my opinion though! Jetman